(I had this dream while living in community at Blakesley St, Chatswood. So that makes it about 1988. It was so vivid, and the clarity stayed with me so long, that I felt compelled to write it down.)
Several of us from Chatswood Uniting Church were outside a cave of some sort. Alan and I crouched nearest the entrance. It was clearly an old structure, a part of a previous civilization. It had been discovered some time before but it’s purpose was still unknown.
We were aware of rumours and legends claiming that it’s secret only related to another race. (In fact we may not even have been in Australia.) There were other people with us from other cultures. Our hope lay in them uncovering the secret.
Quite independent of the cave, Fusion had been promoting an idea that there had been a technologically advanced civilization during OT times. They pointed to an OT verse which implied that God made use of computers in some of his revelations to the people. Maybe this cave would provide proof.
One person, a white male, though not of European descent entered the cave as he had done many times before. He was special: the son of prophecy. In line with the prophecy he walked around the inside perimeter of the cave almost naked. Though the expectation that this would achieve anything had diminished because he had done it so many times before, there was still an aire of mystery.
Outside the cave, we murmured among ourselves, though we stayed attentive to what might happen inside. We couldn’t see directly inside, but I could see a vague reflection in a nearby wall showing part of what happened. Fairly soon something strange happened which for a moment wasn’t decipherable. Then it became clearer that there were now 2 people in the cave – both the same! One of them lay down. Alan must have seen it too, because we looked at each other and both got up to enter. The rest, maybe 8 or so, followed.
The cave was a large dome whose circular floor sloped upwards from the entrance. The slope was from south to north, and the entrance was unobtrusively in the NE corner. The centre contained rock or earthern seats, but all around the outside, there was a well worn path. At the N end, there was a flat area which looked like a kind of stage. The cave was dimly lit, though I didn’t see any source for the light.
A number of people were seated along one row of the seats: two or more clones of the son of prophecy, along with a few other people and their clones. (“Clone” isn’t the right word: it’s too scientific, whereas these had a more mystical feel about them.) They faced south, looking straight ahead. One in particular chilled me: his several clones had a dark beard and a stern, stoney expression.
We realised that whatever purpose had been sleeping in the cave had been awakened. The Australians there were very cautious not to interfere, but the others took the cue from the son of prophecy and started walking around the perimeter. Whenever they completed a circuit, a spirit-like copy of themselves would disengage itself from their body and solidify next to them. This was most exciting and awesome. After this had happened a few times, we realised that as each clone was created, the original person changed slightly. It was as though the person was regressing in life, shedding one particular feature on each circuit. For instance, one clone may have been patience, and so the original then became the person they had been before they had developed patience. But generally, as they shed various characteristics, the people became lighter and freer.
This was fantastic. We were part of something totally other-wordly. We were privileged to see things never seen before. Where is Jenny? Let her deny that this is a miracle!
We stood in the middle of the cave soaking up this feeling for some time, without anything much else happening, but then Peter jumped away from us and started bolting round the perimeter, hoping to experience the same thing. Anne immediately followed. I don’t know if we yelled at them to stop or just thought it. It was clearly dangerous: no-one could tell what would happen if foreigners interfered, but the rumour was that it would be bad.
Like the others, they went clockwise up the slope and across the stage. But then they chickened out and never completed a circuit. I lost sight of Peter, but Anne nervously ran backwards and forwards along the stage.
Events started happening more quickly now. Anne and someone who seemed like Lorraine, but wasn’t, were on the stage and Anne happened to walk through a column of smoke. There were two of these thin columns near the centre of the back wall of the stage. We’d noticed them before but paid little attention to them. They looked sort of like dust swirling within a shaft of blue light coming down from the roof.
Someone said “Doesn’t Anne look lovely in blue?” or some such comment. Another asked “Anne, do you often wear blue?”. She replied “No, it’s not my colour”. It was clear that after stepping through the column, there was some special radiance about her, and she was clearly on top of the world. She and the one who looked-like-Lorraine-but-wasn’t started dancing. It was a complex modern jazz type dance, finely choreographed. Everyone was amazed because we all knew that Anne hadn’t done any dancing before.
Everyone became caught up with this joyful atmosphere. It seemed that the cave and especially the column of smoke had some inner-healing effect.
What had to happen next? It was clear that the “cloning” process had to be reversed: people had to regain their lost characters. Two people’s clones approached their originals, but they sort of bounced off as the originals refused to re-unite. But this was just because of the surprise of it all. After running away, the people went back to the clones and I saw one lady merge into her clone and become herself again. I think that started everyone else doing the same.
It must have been at this time (though it seems like it may have happened later), that I found I was carrying something covered with a towel. I can’t remember if I knew what it was or not. Someone pointed out that it was Helen’s and that she’d need it: it was part of her character which she’d left behind and she would need it in order to re-unite properly. When we took the towel away, it was a stone sculpture of Helen’s face in great agony. But where was Helen? She was nowhere in the cave. Why had she left? (This, on later reflection, seems a most important question.)
I became aware of a vague light at the top of the column of smoke. It was a small circle of rainbow hues, barely distinguishable and it started moving around the perimeter of the roof. As I stood in the middle of the room, I turned on the spot to watch it’s progress and I called everyone’s attention to it. As it reached east, there was a sudden flash of white light. “Did you see that?” I shouted, but no-one else had.
As I stood on the spot turning around to keep watching the light, I started becoming disturbed. Whose Temple is this? What power is behind our joy? Who is it that we are worshipping? It troubled me deeply. Were we being led astray? Why weren’t we singing praises to God? (I think Alan was starting to have misgivings about the whole setup too.)
I started singing “Holy holy, Holy holy, Holy holy Lord God Almighty…” but couldn’t remember the words. “Precious Jesus, Precious Jesus, we’re so glad that you’ve redeemed us precious Jesus…” but couldn’t remember the words. I woke, still struggling for the words and sensing that it was important for me to re-affirm that the True God was the only one I wanted to worship.